Should Philadelphia's wireless network be saved?

Today, an advocacy group is launching a petition urging Philadelphians to call City Mayor Michael Nutter and "that the city step in to save the Wireless Philadelphia network and keep digital inclusion as part of it's agenda."

That would be the Wi-Fi mesh net built by Earthlink for the nonprofit group Wireless Philadelphia. Earthlik recently decided http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/051308-earthlink-to-remove-philadelphia.html to start shutting down the network. The provider has bailed out of the muni wireless market, and spent several months negotiating with Wireless Philadelphia to transfer ownership. There were no takers for the network, which Earthlink has valued at $17 million.

The call to action began appearing this week, with blog postings http://www.phillyfuture.org/node/6274 of a press release from a group called Media Mobilizing Project, though the group's Web site http://www.mediamobilizing.org/index.html doesn't have a copy of the release itself.

MMP is urging "concerned citizens" to call Nutter, and they list two office numbers for that purpose. They make two basic claims. One is that the City's "digital divide" (meaning not everyone has a computer and a broadband access) is horrendous and that the Wi-Fi net is essential to bridging it.

 Second, that the city and governement in general is putting more services online and residents "need affordable Internet access in order to be engaged in civic life."

The problems with this argument are legion. Residents are supposed to "save" a network that has never been successfull. The only success the project can point to is the fact that a few thousand Wi-Fi mesh nodes were installed. Performance has been bad. And the business case to make it viable has proven to be flawed.

The digital divide is in essence a manufactured issue. Not everyone can afford an Apple MacBook and Verizon's FIOS fiber broadband to the home. But it doesn't follow that people are economically, educationally, or civically, crippled by that lack.

Similarly, the idea that citizens "NEED" affordable Internet access in order to be engaged in civic life is equally bogus. Community activism and civic involvement can be traced at least back to ancient Athens. No one argued then that the lack of a stylus and waxpad meant citizens couldn't be engaged.

 The worst thing Philadelphia could do is "save" this network.